First Time For Everything

Harrisburg's Javie Beal is congratulated by teammates after his inside-the-park home run against West Frankfort Saturday in the Anna-Jonesboro Regional Championship game.SPYDER DANN | mdann@dailyregister.com

One would think with 800 career wins, 20 regional titles and a second place showing at the state tournament, when it comes to baseball, Harrisburg's Jay Thompson would have seen it all.

Yet, on Saturday, in the Class 2A Regional title game against West Frankfort, Thompson had a first.

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BENTON SECTIONAL

Wednesday

Nashville vs. Fairfield 4 PM

Harrisburg vs. Zeigler-Royalton 6:30 PM

In the bottom of the fifth and with one out, Javie Beal stepped to the plate and connected on the first pitch he saw.

The left hander went opposite field with a slicing line drive that right at the point of hitting the grass on the Anna-Jonesboro baseball field, took a wicked hop over Blake Engler's head and went the distance of 333-feet to the fence.

Beal, who stands in at 6-0 and 175 pounds, has the build to get around the base paths, but as Thompson's arms went up in a circular motion and Beal rounded second, it was first for both.

Beal's inside the park home run was something that Thompson said he will remember -- not the 6-0 win over West Frankfort for the Bulldogs' third straight regional crown and 28th overall.

"Off all the oddities in baseball, this is one of them," Thompson said. "I know this has been done to us before, but I don't think I have ever had a player hit an inside the park home run. Think about the fields we play on?

For Beal, it was a first for him as well. They just aren't big enough for a kid to be able to do that and in the huge parks we have played in, it just doesn't happen. Beal's hit was an easy triple. Shoot, he was already around first when the left fielder slipped and at that point, I had no doubt he could make it."

Beal, who has a .359 batting average to go along with 37 hits and 30 RBI, said despite the fortunate hop or the attempted dive, he'll take it, just the same as the 'Dogs will take the field Wednesday in Benton, squaring off against Zeigler-Royalton in the semifinals of the 2A Sectional.

"This is just step one," Beal said. "We're going to keep fighting and we've been playing really well. This team has high expectations."

Harrisburg (28-8) hasn't won a sectional title since that magical year in 2010 where Harrisburg fell to Teutopolis in the 2A state championship game. A win Wednesday over the Tornado, would set up a Saturday championship bout against the winner of Nashville or Fairfield.

Spyder Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois Local Media News Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.